What Happens When You Die? All Appear Before the Judgment Seat of Christ

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house
is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan,
longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as
we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while
we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not
want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will
be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very
purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore,
being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home
in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by
faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and
prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the
Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or
absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for
his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad.

If you can make the leap of faith in the full blown creed of
evolution that grips the minds of many modern people, then you will
believe that what happens to you when you die is no more
significant than what happens to a tree when it dies. It’s over.
You go out of existence. You feel nothing, know nothing, have no
consciousness. Your opinion would be that this sermon series is
irrelevant. It has nothing to do with reality — what is really
going to happen.

But if you find written on the tablet of your heart the truth
that there is a Creator God, and that you are made to have a
relationship with him, and that what separates you from whales and
dolphins and chimpanzees is not mutations and chemicals, but
personhood in the image of God, then you probably will lie awake at
night and think about eternity — because, as Ecclesiastes 3:11
says, “God has put eternity in man’s heart.”

And if, like millions of others, you have met Jesus Christ in
the pages of the Bible and have been persuaded that he is worthy of
your trust, then you do not have to be unsure about what is coming
when you die. He has told us many things, to encourage us and free
us from the emptiness of evolutionary creeds and from the fear of
death.

What We Have Seen So Far

What we have seen so far is that believers in Jesus go to be
with him when we die. Verse 8: “We prefer to be absent from the
body and at home with the Lord.” For those of us who trust
Jesus as Savior and Lord “to live is Christ and to die is gain”
(Philippians 1:21); “to depart and be with Christ is very much better”
(Philippians 1:23).

The second thing we have seen is that there is more than leaving
our body behind and going to be with Christ. There is also a
resurrection of the body. That’s what we saw last week: “we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be
raised imperishable and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).
Christ will come and change our body of lowliness into one like his
glorious body (Philippians 3:21). He does not mean for us to be
disembodied souls forever. There will be a resurrection of the
dead.

Four Simple Observations About the Judgment

Today we focus on a third truth about what happens when
believers die. The verse we are focusing on this morning is verse
10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to
what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Let me make four simple and obvious observations about this
judgment and then tackle the problem of why Christians will be judged
if in fact Christ has already been judged for us (Romans 5:8–9), and
if there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
(Romans 8:1).

All Christians will stand before Christ as judge. “We must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Not just
unbelievers, but “we.” And not some of us, but “all of us.”

Our judge will be Christ. It is God’s judgment too (Romans 14:10–12, “We must all stand before the judgment seat of God”), but
God “has given him authority to execute judgment” (John 5:27). So
God the Son and God the Father are one in their judgment, but the
Son is the one who stands forth as the immediate Judge, to deal
with us.

Our judgment will be after we die. That’s implied in the
text, but Hebrews 9:27 makes it explicit. “It is appointed for men
to die once and after this comes judgment.” We don’t need to be
more specific than that this morning. We need only say that before
we enter the final state of glory with our resurrection bodies on
the new earth, we will stand before Christ as Judge.

When we stand before Christ as Judge, we will be judged
according to our deeds in this life. “For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for
his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad.” This is not an isolated teaching in the New Testament.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:27, “The Son of Man is going to come in
the glory of his Father with his angels; and will then recompense
every person according to his deeds.” And in the very last chapter
of the Bible Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and my
reward is with me, to render to every person according to what he
has done” (Revelation 22:12). In other words, the way you live is not
unimportant.

What Is the Aim of This Judgment?

Now the more difficult question: Why is it important? Why are
the deeds done in the body the evidence in this courtroom? Is the
aim of this judgment to declare who is lost and who is saved,
according to the works done in the body? Or is the aim of this
judgment to declare the measure of your reward in the age to come
according to the works done in the body?

I think the answer of the New Testament is both. Our deeds will
reveal who enters the age to come, and our deeds will reveal the
measure of our reward in the age to come. I will show you in just a
moment why I think this, but let me mention the biggest problem for
many Christians in saying this. It sounds to many like a
contradiction of salvation by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8–9
says, “By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God — not of works lest anyone
should boast.” Salvation is not “of works.” That is, works do not
earn salvation. Works do not put God in our debt so that he must
pay wages. That would contradict grace. “The wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life, through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Romans 6:23). Grace gives salvation as a free gift to be
received by faith, not earned by works.

How then can I say that the judgment of believers will not only
be the public declaration of the measure of our reward in the
kingdom of God according to our deeds, but will also be the public
declaration of our salvation — our entering the
kingdom — according to our deeds?

The answer in a couple sentences is that our deeds will be the
public evidence brought forth in Christ’s courtroom to demonstrate
that our faith is real. And our deeds will be the public evidence
brought forth to demonstrate the varying measures of our obedience
of faith (cf. Romans 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). In other
words, salvation is by faith, and rewards are by faith, but the
evidence of invisible faith in the judgment hall of Christ will be
a transformed life. Our deeds are not the basis of our salvation,
they are the evidence of our salvation. They are not foundation,
they are demonstration.

Now let me show you why I think this.

Reward in Accord with Deeds

There is teaching both in Paul’s writings and in the words of
Jesus that believers will receive differing rewards in accord with
the degree that their faith expresses itself in acts of service and
love and righteousness.

In Paul’s Writings

For example, in 1 Corinthians 3:8 Paul
says, “He who plants and he who waters are one; but each will
receive his own reward according to his own labor.” And in
Ephesians 6:8 Paul says, “Whatever good thing each one does, this
he will receive back from the Lord.”

The Parable of the Talents

And most of us remember the parable of the talents (or pounds)
in Luke 19:12–27. Jesus compares his going to heaven and returning
to a nobleman who went away and gave to ten of his servants one
pound each with the command to trade with them so that his estate
would be advanced in his absence. When he returns, one had traded so
as to turn his pound into ten. And the nobleman says that his
reward will be to have authority over ten cities. Another had
turned his pound into five. And the nobleman said that his reward
would be to have authority over five cities. Another had just kept
the pound and done nothing with it. To this one the nobleman said,
“I will condemn you from your own mouth.” And he took the one pound
from him.

Now what this parable teaches is the same thing Paul taught,
namely, that there are varying degrees of reward for the
faithfulness of our lives. But it also moves beyond that and also
teaches that there is a loss not only of reward but of eternity for
those who claim
to be faithful but do nothing to show that they
prize God’s gifts and love the Giver. That’s the point of the third
servant who did nothing with his gift. He did not just lose his
reward, he lost his life. Jesus says in Matthew 25:30, “Cast out
that slave into outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.”

Salvation Demonstrated by Deeds

That leads us to the second purpose of the judgment. The first
was that the judgment makes a public demonstration of the varying
degrees of reward that Christians receive for the exercise of their
faith in obedience. The second purpose of the judgment is to
declare openly the reality of the faith and the salvation of God’s
people by the evidence of their deeds. Salvation is owned by faith.
Salvation is shown by deeds. So when Paul says (in v. 10) we “will be
recompensed . . . according to what we have done,” he not only
means that our rewards will accord with our deeds, but also our
salvation will accord with our deeds.

Why do I think this?

Romans 2:5–7

There are numerous texts that point in this direction. One is
in Paul’s letter to the Romans (2:5–7) where he refers to “The
revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” and then says (in vv.
6–8), “[God] will render to every man according to his deeds: to
those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor
and immortality [he will render] eternal life; but to those who . .
. do not obey the truth . . . [he will render] wrath and
indignation.” In other words, just as our text says, the judgment
is “according to what a person has done.” But here the issue is
eternal life versus wrath.

“Faith Without Works Is Dead”

Several times Paul listed certain kinds of deeds and said,
“those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God”
(Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10). In other words when these
deeds are exposed at the judgment as a person’s way of life, they
will be the evidence that their faith is dead and they will not be
saved. As James said in James 2:26, “Faith without works is dead.”
That is what will be shown at the judgment.

Jesus’s Words

Jesus put it like this — and he used exactly the same words
for good and evil deeds that we have here in 2 Corinthians 5:10. He
said (in John 5:28–29), “An hour is coming in which all who are in
the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; those who did
the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the
evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” In other words, the way
one lived will be the evidence whether one passes through judgment
to life or whether one experiences judgment as condemnation.

He says this even though five verses earlier in John 5:24 he said,
“Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes has
eternal life.” To hear and to believe is to have eternal
life — it is by grace through faith. But when that faith is
real — not dead — the life will change and Jesus can say,
with no contradiction: the deeds of this life will be the public
criteria of judgment in the resurrection. Because our works
are the evidence of the reality of our faith. And it is faith in
Christ that saves.

A Closing Illustration

Let me close with an illustration that I think makes clear how
deeds will function in the final judgment. Remember the story of
how two harlots brought a baby to king Solomon, each claiming that
the baby was hers (1 Kings 3:16–27). They asked king Solomon to act
as judge between them. He said that a sword should be brought and
that the baby should be divided and half given to the one and half
to the other. The true mother cried out, “O, my lord, give her the
child and by no means kill it.” Solomon said, give this woman the
child, for she is its mother.

What was Solomon looking for? He was not looking for a deed that
would earn the child. He was looking for a deed that would prove
that the child was already possessed by birth. That is the way God
looks at our deeds. He is not looking for deeds that purchase our
pardon in his judgment hall. He is looking for deeds that prove we
are already enjoying our pardon. The purchase of our pardon was the
blood of Jesus, sufficient once for all to cover all our sins. And
the means by which we own it is faith — and faith alone.

That is what this communion is all about, and I invite you to
prepare your hearts to remember and to savor the blood of
Jesus.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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